ACTOR Charlie Hunnam hopes to hog the limelight as he plays a biker gang member in America’s hottest new telly drama.

Newcastle-born Charlie, 28, plays a lead character in Sons Of Anarchy . . . a hard-hitting drama centred around a motorcycle gang which is a front for a criminal gun-running business.

The FX channel’s prime time series aired for the first time in the US last Wednesday to rave reviews from critics, who have compared it to The Sopranos, with leather jackets, tattoos and Harley-Davidsons replacing the shiny suits and flash cars.

Charlie plays Jax Teller — second in command in the motorcycle club of the show’s title — which is run by his step-father Clay Morrow, played by Ron Perlman.

In a direct crossover from The Sopranos, Charlie’s junkie ex-wife is actress Drea De Matteo, who played the mob drama’s Adriana.

And the former Heaton Manor School pupil — who made his name as Nathan in Queer As Folk and began his career with a brief stint on Byker Grove — has told how he took a walk on the wild side while researching his role, by hanging out with members of the Outlaws, the notorious US bikers.

He said: “I felt that this character wasn’t too far away from the character or the world that I had investigated and explored in one of my previous films, Green Street.

“Those groups of hooligans live by a lot of the same rules. The producer John Linson was an incredible wealth of knowledge about this world. I started there and read a few books.

“Then the greatest research was actually finding a few real-life Outlaws and hanging with them for a couple of weeks and just walking the walk and talking the talk, just learning about the aesthetic and then just trying to apply it as best I could to what we were doing.

“I was very fortunate that I hooked up with these guys pretty early in the process, so I had a lot of time to learn.

“Ultimately, I think the thing that I find most exciting about it is their freedom.

“They’ve really broken away from all of the regular rules of society that dictate the way we live our lives and there’s something very exciting and fresh and just free about that.”

Charlie also had to master riding a Harley-Davidson, a task he found great pleasure in taking on.

He added: “I had a great guy who taught us all. By the time we actually got to shooting, I was really, really comfortable on the bike.

“Whatever role I’m playing, the process is pretty similar. I do a little academic research and then really just go out into the world.”

Sons Of Anarchy is on FX in the US and is planned to air in the UK soon.